Andrew Rutz's blog

"We can rebuild it..."

No, this is not a quiz to see if you can name all the parts of a handplane. :-)

This is a picture of an "exploded view" of one of my maternal grandfather's handplanes. Bill was both a professional cabinetmaker and carpenter in a Midwest city that knew both long, humid summers and the equally challenging freezing winters. My Mom tells of stories where customers would wait for a slot in my grandfather's schedule versus accepting the work of another. She also tells of assisting her Father when she was a child by scrounging a jobsite for bent or reusable nails ... putting them in a coffee can ... to be used again ... 'for it was the age of the Great Depression, and the "Greatest Generation" were still children... 'just beginning to internalize the principles founded on self-sacrifice.

...and so if I can bring this handplane back to life, maybe some of Bill's skill will still be in the handplane's patina, and I'll... 'er.... we'll be able to build something... together.

Posted at 07:22PM Jun 18, 2007 by Andrew Rutz in :-)  |  Comments[0]